Home of the Snarkmaiden

Aggregated outrage addicts are a powerful tool in the hands of a person who doesn't care what kind of wreckage she leaves behind so long as she gets her own way.

I saw yesterday via Kate's post that the US Olympic Committee had gotten shirty with, of all things, the web-based knitting community, Ravelry and fired off a legal cease-and-desist mark protection notice for Ravelry's use of the term "Ravelympics" (...presumably as part of a comprehensive take-down of any entity using a name ending in -lympic, including Olympic Blvd, the Olympic Mountains, Olympic Peninsula, and of course, the great 1980 animated film, Animalympics). Kate also noted that Kay of Mason-Dixon Knitting was organizing a campaign to get Steven Colbert's attention to this matter and ask him to raise awareness of it in one of his "People Who Are Destroying America" segments. The campaign, in fine Ravelry style, is being implemented by members knitting hand-made socks for Mr. Colbert, and mailing them to him. Which is why I now know Steven Colbert's shoe size.

The internet being what it is, and knitters being what they are, especially the knitizens of Ravelry, there instantly sprang up a Ravelry discussion board to organize this campaign (I know, because I spotted it on the New Groups list today -- 355 members strong) and I see now that the top message thread on the board is titled USOC Apologizes!. Which, apparently, happened yesterday afternoon. That's fast work, knitters. Now, can we do something about the election?

(Actually, it turns out that it wasn't a very good apology, so Steven Colbert is likely to get a lot of hand-knit socks in the mail anyhow, would be my guess.)

What strikes me as particularly charming about all this is that it's a fine example of communities pulling together to get things done, but more, it's the fact that the first instinct here is to seek redress by comedy, satire, and hand-made stuff rather than, say, violence, and yet it works.